Why Santarus Shares Popped

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of biopharmaceutical company Santarus jumped as much as 16% after reporting better-than-expected fourth-quarter results.

So what: For the quarter, revenue grew 65% to $70.2 million all due to a large increase in the number of prescriptions written for Cycloset, Fenoglide, and Glumetza. Adjusted profit also jumped to $0.08 from just $0.03 in the year-ago period. Both figures easily surpassed the $62 million and $0.01 in EPS that Wall Street had been expecting. Looking ahead, Santarus sees full-year sales of $320 million to $325 million and EPS of $0.92-$1.00 compared to the current consensus of $323.1 million and just $0.72 in EPS.

Now what: Thus far, I've been dead wrong in my assessment that Santarus couldn't keep up the sales strength in the three drugs listed above. With the introduction of Uceris to treat mild-to-moderate ulcerative colitis, the double-digit growth is likely to continue for the time being. However, at a nine-year high, I'm a bit skeptical about its potential to tack on further gains, even after today's earnings beat, and am perfectly happy watching Santarus from a safe distance.

Craving more input? Start by adding Santarus to your free and personalized watchlist so you can keep up on the latest news with the company.

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Fool contributor Sean Williams has no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name TMFUltraLong, track every pick he makes under the screen name TrackUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle @TMFUltraLong.Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.